Sam Rosen’s diary: Rangers comeback starts with Henrik Lundqvist

Sam Rosen has called Rangers games for 30 years on MSG Network. He is famous for his ” … and this one will last a lifetime!” call of the Rangers’ 1994 Stanley Cup championship.

Rosen, a New City resident, will provide diary entries throughout this year’s Stanley Cup Final.

By Sam Rosen

I’m a disciple of Yogi Berra. “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”

Thank God for Yogi. And you know what’s really changed my thinking in recent years? Ever since the Red Sox came from 0-3 behind in 2004 in the American League Championship Series and did it to the Yankees, I’ve started to think that this can be done.

I used to think it was impossible, the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and 1975 Islanders notwithstanding. Now we’ve seen it happen with the Red Sox, we’ve seen it happen this year with the L.A. Kings against the San Jose Sharks. So it’s not impossible. It’s improbable, but not impossible.

For the Rangers I think there is something that has to come into play in Game 4, and that is: pride. They have to have the pride to dig down and not let the Kings take them out in four straight. They’ve got to protect their house. They’ve got to win at home, give something for their fans to latch onto, show the fans that they’re not a four-straight out, they’re going to find a way to win and keep the hope alive and keep this series going.

They may not win, and in all likelihood they won’t, but they’ve got to give their fans something to hook onto.

And it starts with Hank. Henrik Lundqvist is the key. He’s got to come out with a determination that nothing is going to get by him. What I really liked was seeing him out on the ice (Tuesday) working on deflections. An optional practice, all the players were dejected, and he was out there working on his game.

That was a great sign. He is a leader of this team, he’s a man they count on and he needs to come out with a great effort. He did it in Game 5 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Down three games to one, in Pittsburgh, he came out with a terrific effort – the entire team came out with a terrific effort – and kept that series alive and went on to come back and win that series. I think that’s something the Rangers can latch onto. That’s something recent, to give them the belief that they’re good enough to do this.

Are the L.A. Kings tough? Yes. Are they unbeatable? No. They lost three in a row in the opening-round series to the Sharks. They lost three in a row to the Anaheim Ducks in the middle of the second-round series, and they lost two straight to Chicago and almost three straight.

They’re a very good team, they’re big, they’re strong, they’re confident, but the Rangers have shown they can play with them, play at that level. They could have won both games in L.A., probably should have won Game 2, but they didn’t. Now they’ve got to find a way to win and it starts with Lundqvist, but it carries to the rest of the team.

Above all, give those fans some hope and belief early on, get them behind the team and go from there.

Dear Diary, Today Joe M told me that I looked good. I think he was exaggerating to make me feel better about myself. Why do I feel that way, diary? Am I making myself feel that way or is it normal? I wish you were a person, diary. I miss you when we’re apart.

Good evening all!….truly, I don’t know what to say. But I will believe until the very last horn sounds. No matter what, I am proud to be a Rangers fan. I don’t think the current game tally really reflects what a series this has been and how hard we’ve fought. Mother hartneller.

Here’s the skinny. Quick has just been that much better than Henrik. I mean this with respect but if we swapped goalies it would probably be 2-1 or 1-2 at this point of the series. Quick has stood on his freeken head. The wild card has been the defense being jumped on by bigger faster King players, not allowing our speed up ice. Our defense has to play the same way they did the during 6th game of the Habs series. Lack of top notch performances by Richards, Nash, Kreider & Stepon hasn’t helped either. Speed in all zones, aggressive checking & smart simply plays. Who knows, maybe we could pull this out. Subconciously LA would rather win at home. In the end, even though we should be proud because we never figured we’d go this far, it still hurts. It’s not too often a team gets this far.